January 11-15, 2010

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on High to have compassion on you, For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. Isaiah 30:18

This week we get to spend a great deal of time with Isaiah. What a powerful man of God he is! His messages from God to King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem and Judah are powerful and potent. If we ever wanted to understand the true nature of prophecy, we couldn’t find a better teacher. This is one gift that has been abused and misused throughout the centuries. It has been exhibited as whitewashed fortune telling and used for personal gain and recognition. True prophecy does not begin with the future; it begins with the past. God made His word very clear. Certain actions and attitudes bring God’s blessings, while other invoke His wrath. A true prophet is able to by the Spirit of God discern the events and motives of a person or nation. By the Spirit he is able to discern the blessings or consequences of those actions and declares the praise or proposal for change. He is also able to foresee the discipline and punishment for failure to repent.

Throughout our journey with Isaiah, we hear the voice of one who clearly sees that the actions of the nation have angered God and He is about to bring the chastisement they deserve. Although there is a constant pleading with the people to turn from their ways, Isaiah also knows that they won’t and that a certain doom awaits them. But Isaiah is also able to sense God’s heart for His chosen ones. Although God is angry with them, there is still the love of a parent that beats in His breast. God is a perfect parent. He doesn’t tell us to do one thing, while He does something else. In Proverbs 13:24 we are told:

He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Hebrews 12:5-8 says it this way:

And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

God disciplines as a good parent! He will try talking with His children, but He will only go the road of reasoning for so long. When words don’t work, God WILL resort to scourging. Unfortunately the world doesn’t understand a hearty spanking done in love, because it has rarely seen it! Spankings done to relieve pent up anger often leave wounds that never heal. God’s motivation for smacking is much different.

For they (i.e. our earthly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. (Hebrews 12:10)

It is this truth that laces Isaiah’s words. In spite of all the doom and gloom of his message, there is always a visible silver lining edging the dark clouds. When dark and foreboding clouds fill the sky, the faint golden edges remind us that the sun is still shining, and it gives us hope for a sunshiny day in the future. Isaiah’s words consistently shift between the great sin of God’s people and the call to repentance, and the amazing promise of blessings on the other side of God’s discipline if they don’t. In the midst of all this, there is comfort for those who are walking God’s way, but live in the midst of a people who refuse His government in their lives.

As you walk with Isaiah, you will quickly recognize that His words are completely relevant for our generation. As the darkness continues to overtake this world, we look to the silver lining of the future reign of the promised Messiah and know that someday God’s kingdom will come. Messiah will set up His rule in Jerusalem and the nations will recognize His sovereignty. But it is important to understand that these promises speak of the millennial (1,000 year) reign of Christ as described in Revelation 19 and 20. Understanding this will help us not to be confused when later it speaks of children dying at 100 years of age, the return of sacrifices and people making pilgrimages to Jerusalem. But we’ll look more at that later when we get there.

At the end of the week, Micah joins us. His words dovetail with Isaiah’s. Micah hits the nail on the head when he speaks of those who don’t want to hear the truth of God’s word. They want God to speak the things they want to hear and to validate their right to do as they please. Sound familiar? God help the preacher who continues to declare that God said what He meant and meant what He said!

Isaiah gives us some godly advice on Friday. He tells us how to encourage the exhausted, strengthen the feeble and speak to the anxious heart. I’d encourage you to slow your pace as you traverse this passage of Isaiah 35. From here you can get a clear view and gain the insight needed to pass through the valleys that lie ahead. May it’s message give you renewed strength as we start our journey through this new year. The darkness in our world continues to gather, but praise God, I can see the silver lining!!!