The Family Business
Isaiah 49-53
I often ask my fellow Christians, “Why are you here?” It usually causes a puzzled look. My point in asking the question is that as Christians we have been saved, we have been cleansed of our sin and made right before a Holy God. Why then are we still on earth? Why are we not in Heaven the moment we submit to God’s authority and receive His forgiveness? I see two reasons. One is that we have some spiritual maturing to do. Being born again we are spiritual infants and we need to grow into spiritual adults so we can enjoy God’s presence to the fullest.
The second reason is He has work for us to do. Having been born again into God’s family we are to learn and work the family business. That business is glorifying God and saving the lost. In fact, I think the way we glorify God is by telling the lost about Him. Take a look at the following verse from today’s reading.
Isaiah 49:3
“And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
Is God talking about Isaiah, Israel, or Christians here? Yes. The text is clearly speaking about Isaiah here. Isaiah is God’s servant in whom God will be glorified. Of course the very reason God has a relationship with the nation of Israel is because He was to be glorified through them. Christians, as the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are also chosen to be His servants through whom He will be glorified.
And what does it mean to glorify God?
Isaiah 49:6
“he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
It is not enough to bring light to the darkness of your own people. We are called as Isaiah was to bring light to the dark lives of all peoples. As husbands and fathers our first task is to ensure the spiritual wellbeing and growth of our family but our job does not end there. We must be involved in the family business – preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Are you involved?
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
School Is In Session
2 Kings 18:9-19:37, Psalm 46, 80, 135
I can’t tell you how many non-Christians and non-Bible-readers try to lecture me on what the Bible says. It amazes me how certain they are about things they have not read for themselves. Someone else tells them something that is incorrect and they accept that as truth, and worse, that it gives them superior knowledge over those who have actually read the Bible for themselves.
I remember non-Bible-Readers arguing that all Christians should be against the death penalty because the Bible says “thou shall not kill”. Some translations do translate the original Hebrew that way but a more accurate translation is “thou shall not murder”. We today use the terms kill and murder interchangeably even though they do mean different things. If one is familiar with the Bible they know that God could not have meant “kill” since He commands capital punishment for those who violate certain laws including murder.
Today it is very fashionable to state that all religions worship the same god and that they are all different paths to the same truth. This is absolutely idiotic. This is believed by some because they think that all religions are man-made institutions. It is true, of course, for all religions but the one instituted by God Himself. Allah and Jehovah are not the same. Jehovah is The One True God. Allah is a consolidation of several Arabian Peninsula gods put together by Muhammad to unite his people. Even assuming that both entities exist the founders of their religion are very different and call on their followers to grow the faith in radically different ways.
My point, however, is not to compare Christianity and Islam; it is to point out that the habit of uninformed people to lump all religions into the same “man-made” category is not new. In fact it was happening back in the time of Isaiah and Hezekiah.
2 Kings 18:22
“But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?”
Here the messenger from the Assyrian king is telling the people of Judah to surrender without a fight. He tells them that they should not trust in God for their rescue because all the gods are the same and they were not able to stop the Assyrian king from crushing nations that trusted in them.
The messenger thinks that Hezekiah has offended Judah’s God by destroying His high places and altars and forcing worship only in Jerusalem. Here again is one ignorant in the differences between man-made gods and the One True God. Hezekiah destroyed the high places and altars of the foreign, man-made gods as an act of obedience to the One True God. Below are two more examples of this man’s ignorance.
2 Kings 18:25
“Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”
People in ancient times like people today often attribute their success to God’s blessing. God can use evil people to achieve His purpose but it doesn’t mean He will let them continue in their evil ways indefinitely without punishment. God used Assyria to punish the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He had no intention of allowing Assyria to conquer the Southern Kingdom. Blessing from God comes from being in right relationship with God. When good things happen to bad people God is simply using them as a tool to His greater purpose. Judgment is coming for those malefactors; have no doubt about that.
The king of Assyria and his messenger were playing with fire. When God chooses to take notice of such mockery, bad things happen. The Assyrian king had to flee from Judah after God killed 185,000 soldiers in their sleep. He died shortly thereafter at the hands of his own sons.
The majority of people in the world today do not understand the difference between man-made gods and the One True God Jehovah. They are lost and being led further astray. Their ignorance will lead them to their eternal death. As a Christian you have to ask yourself how God would want you to respond to such ignorance. Would He want you to get yourself educated about Him and His Word? Would He want you to share the truth with those that are so in the dark? I think the answer to all of these questions is yes. It is time to start pushing back against the ignorance. It is time to start teaching. School is in session guys!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Don’t Go Like That
Isaiah 44-48
I found the following verses from today’s reading intriguing.
Isaiah 44:21-22
“Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
When we submit our lives to the authority of Christ our sins are forgiven; we are saved; we are redeemed. Why would God be calling those He has already redeemed to come back to Him? If they’ve been redeemed haven’t they already returned to Him? I see two ways of looking at this passage.
As today’s reading reminds us, God knew us when we were still in our mother’s womb; actually, He knew us before even then. Time is not linear to God. If it was He would be unable to give His prophets visions of the future. God sees the beginning and the end; He is the beginning and the end. He knew you before the foundation of the world and He knew what choice you would make. Even if you haven’t accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior yet, if you ever decide to do so God already knew the choice you would make and has been calling you. You see He chose you because He knew you. He knew the choice you would make. In that sense a sinner can “return” to God in that he came from God and he has finally returned to Him in obedience.
The other way to look at this is what really gets me thinking. God is speaking of Jacob, His chosen people, in this passage. He is not speaking of other peoples who do not yet know Him. He is talking about His children. If you have accepted Christ you are His child, you are His servant. He has obliterated your sin, it is no more, but have you been faithful? Have you been obedient? I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it many more times, if you belong to God and you sin, it will hurt. Hell is separation from God. Why is it that we gain access to Heaven, to God’s very presence, and then we turn around and walk away from Him in the direction of Hell? It doesn’t make any sense does it?
Brother, if you are struggling with sin congratulations. God’s Holy Spirit resides in you and He is calling you to return to Him. The ones I worry about are the ones who are not bothered by sin or say that sin is not sin. If sin bothers you it is because God is saying: “You are mine. You have no business sinning. Return to Me for I have redeemed you.” I’m reminded of the old joke about the guy that went to the doctor with a pain in his shoulder. The man raised his arm as he said “Doctor, it hurts when I go like this.” To which the doctor promptly replied “Well don’t go like that.” Sin hurts. Don’t go like that.
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Strength To Continue The Fight
Have you ever struggled in your walk with God? I mean have you had areas of your life that God convicted you to change and you struggled for a time in being obedient? On-going, unrepentant sin in your life means you have not been saved. You cannot have the Holy Spirit in your life and unrepentant sin. We are talking matter and anti-matter here guys – the two cannot co-exist. If you have submitted your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit resides within you and convicts you of your sin. That means that if there is sin in your life you are going to feel bad about it; it is going to hurt! I for one know how it feels to be convicted of sin in my life and to struggle with that sin. I have often felt as if I was losing the battle and at times I was.
A battle by its very definition is a hard fought thing. It is a struggle. There is no switch that can be thrown. One must slug it out until victorious. In Vietnam American forces were victorious. We were a stronger, wealthier force than the enemy and once we got the right General in place we won on the battlefield. The enemy, however, was very clever. He knew that he couldn’t win going toe to toe on the battlefield so he took his fight to the American people.
Through a well-funded public relations effort the enemy was able to sap our will to fight. For example, the Tet Offensive was a great victory for America in military terms but was portrayed at home as a great defeat. Having won on the battlefield we promptly signed a terrible peace deal and then shut off our funding and assistance to our ally South Vietnam. In other words, we got tired of the fight and ran away after we had already won.
Today’s reading reminds me of how tired one can get of fighting sin. We can feel like we are losing. We can feel like we are beaten. We can feel like no matter what we do we will fail. All of this is a lie. We have already won our battle against sin. Christ died to give us that victory. We just need to accept the truth and trust in His strength to help us through. No matter how tired we get He never tires.
Isaiah 40:28-31
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
You see brothers, He can renew your strength. The key is to submit to His authority. In obedience He will give you that victorious strength.
Isaiah 41:8-10
“But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Do not be dismayed. Do not lose heart. Do not give up. He will strengthen you. He will help you. He will uphold you with His righteous right hand!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Are You Like Hezekiah?
Isaiah 37-39, Psalm 76
I had to chuckle as I read about Hezekiah in today’s reading. Out of all the kings of Israel and Judah after the kingdom split in two, Hezekiah was the most “godly”. He was the only one to tear down the Ashtoreth poles and high places of worship to foreign gods. He returned the nation to worship of the One True God. He turned to God in his troubles and trusted in His salvation. At the beginning of our reading today Hezekiah is ill and Isaiah tells him he will die. Hezekiah turns to God in prayer and asks to be saved from his illness. In response God gave him another 15 years. Still he is a flawed human.
After Hezekiah recovered from his illness, the king of Babylon sent envoys to him to commend him on his recovery. Hezekiah was very pleased to have been honored this way by such a powerful and distant king. In his pride he showed these envoys the wealth of Israel. This foolish display of pride planted the seed of the coming exile to Babylon. Having seen the wealth of Israel Babylon would eventually come to claim it.
Isaiah came to Hezekiah to tell him of the eventual results of his own foolishness.
Isaiah 39:5-8
“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
It was Hezekiah’s reaction to being told that his nation would be conquered and taken into captivity, and that his sons would be castrated and forced to serve a foreign king that made me chuckle. Hezekiah basically said “as long as I’m alright I am good with that!” Is there no selfless person in the entire Bible? Here is the best king we can find during the divided kingdom era and he is content as long as things go well for him personally! “God gave me another 15 years, I’m rich, I’m comfortable – who cares about what happens to my children and my nation after I’m gone?” Wow!
Of course, there is only one human in the Bible who is selfless and that is Jesus the Christ. He is the only hero of the Bible that never sinned, that never made Himself a priority over the wellbeing of others. So, maybe that lets you and me off the hook. I mean if Jesus was the only truly selfless person in the Bible how can I be condemned for being selfish? I’m assuming you are at least a little bit selfish. Is that fair? Do you always put the wellbeing of others before yourself? Do you always put the will of God before your own? No? Then you have some measure of selfishness within you. Still, that’s okay isn’t it? I’m mean you’re just being human right?
If you haven’t submitted your life to the authority of Christ then I don’t expect you to behave in a selfless manner. If you have submitted to Christ you have His Holy Spirit residing within you don’t you? Does He not empower you to be like Him? Does He not make it possible for you to be selfless? No doubt we won’t become completely like Him until we are untied with Him in Heaven, but with Him in our heart we should truly care about the wellbeing of those He came to save. Do you care about the lost or are you like Hezekiah simply thankful that you are safe? Do you care what happens to others once you are gone? Do you care what happens to them today? If so, how are you actively caring for the lost? Are you busy doing that which Christ commanded you to do – make disciples?
Brothers, submitting to the authority of Christ is not the end of the race but the beginning. Having submitted to Christ, His love for the lost is within you. He is actively urging you to run the race He has given you. He is asking you to care about the lost. He is asking you to make disciples.
In the play Hamlet, the depressed little prince by that name states rhetorically “To be or not to be – that is the question”. With all due respect to the Bard, I believe a better question would be “To be like Hezekiah or to be like Christ – that is the question.” Start running your race guys!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
The Taunter
Isaiah 35-36
Sennacherib, the king of Assyria took the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity. He then moved against the Southern Kingdom of Judah to do the same. This king seemed unstoppable. How could little Judah, one of twelve tribes, be victorious where Israel made up of 10 tribes failed? The difference between Israel and Judah at this time was the relationship between their kings and God. Hezekiah, king of Judah was obedient to God, the king of Israel was not.
Still, this was a frightening time for Hezekiah and his people. Sennacherib was a powerful king and he sent a messenger to taunt and demoralize the Judites into quick surrender.
Isaiah 36:14-18
“Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?”
Today Satan, the prince of this world, attempts the same demoralizing taunts. He attempts to lead you away from God. He tempts you with promise of worldly wellbeing. He causes you to doubt God’s sufficiency and deliverance. He says it is useless to resist. Do you believe Him? It can be hard at times to resist him but for those who have submitted their lives to Christ it is very doable. Hezekiah told his people not to answer the taunts of Sennacherib’s messenger and that is good advice. You don’t need to answer the taunts of Satan. You only need to place your trust in God.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
