A New Day: Comfort in God’s Word, Part 2

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Jason

God tells Isaiah to speak to the heart, so I think we should hear these words at a heart level, too. So let me ask you a question: What kind of person do you want to become?

There is a man I know and one of the first things I ever heard anyone say about him was this: “He’s only as good as the last person that talks to him.” What they meant by this comment was that this guy was wishy-washy. He could be swayed easily because he didn’t have deep convictions.

I don’t want to be that kind of person. I doubt anyone does. I want to be the kind of person who lives according to his convictions. But that requires trust. And in Isaiah 40, God is telling us that we can be confident that when we put our trust in His Word, we’re trusting in something eternally secure and solid.

In Ephesians 4, God talks about His desire for us to be spiritually mature, not tossed back and forth by every wave and every wind of doctrine. But in order to become that person, I have to put my trust in His Word.

We tend to think of maturity as achieving a state of dependence. You grow up, you become your own person, etc. But spiritual maturity is not based entirely upon my independence like this. Instead, spiritual maturity is based — at least in part — upon my dependence upon God and my dependence upon His Word. In order to become the spiritually solid, unwavering person God wants me to be, I have to put my trust in Him, which means trusting in His Word, trusting in the goodness of His commands, trusting what He says.

That’s the point we made last week: obedience actually sets you free! The world won’t tell you that, but it’s absolutely true! Submitting myself to God in obedience is actually liberating. Spiritual maturity isn’t measured by my degree of independence but rather by the degree of my dependence upon God and His Word.

So the point is that God’s Word can be trusted to bring us comfort. And in trusting His Word, we become the people He wants us to become.

Posted in Faith, Isaiah, Obedience, Scripture, Theology | Leave a comment

A New Day: Comfort in God’s Word, Part 1

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Jason

Most everyone I know could use some comfort right now. The people of Isaiah’s day were no different. In Isaiah 40, we find good news; God stands ready to comfort His people. And Isaiah 40 is one of the great “comfort” chapters in all of the Bible.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:1-2

There is a shift that occurs at this point in Isaiah. In the first 39 chapters, God pronounces a lot of judgment. In the early chapters, God says things like, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5). But here in chapter 40, the shift in tone is so dramatic that scholars believe Isaiah is looking into the future to speak to those people who would be exiled in Babylon over 100 years later. God tells the prophet to bring comfort to these people who are a long way from the Promised Land. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, God says. Literally, it says, Speak to the heart. And that’s what we find here: tender words of comfort spoken from the heart, spoken to the heart.

I hadn’t noticed this before, but there is a trilogy here in Isaiah 40 — three ways God talks about comfort here in this chapter. I’d like to spend the next few weeks looking at this “Comfort Trilogy.” And my prayer is that God’s Word will bring us some comfort.

The first thing God says about comfort in this chapter is that He comforts His people through His eternal, unchanging Word:

A voice says, “Call out.”

Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field….The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:6-8

So here’s the scene: God comes to Isaiah and tells Him to say something to the people. Isaiah replies, “What shall I say, Lord?” This is especially significant if Isaiah is asked to speak a word to people living 100 years after Him. (If I was convinced God wanted me to say something to people living in 2121, I’d probably ask the same question Isaiah asks here.)

God tells Isaiah to comfort His people by reminding them of the unshakeable nature of His Word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. In the natural world, things are always changing. But God’s Word is supernatural. In a volatile world, the word of God stands forever.

And this is a comforting thought.

Last spring, when many of us were quarantined at home, I spent a lot of time working in the yard. I dug up this old tree that was dying and planted a new one in its place. I pulled up a few of our shrubs, planted some knockout roses, some vincas and some petunias that Sunny had picked out. I was out there watering and weeding our flower beds pretty much every day last spring. And I have to say, those flower beds have never looked better. (Not saying much, but still.) For all that was negative about 2020, we really had a beautiful spring last year. The weather was great and those flowers were so beautiful. Sunny posted some pictures of those flowers on social media. I even recorded some of my sermons and classes sitting right there among those roses.

But to no one’s surprise, time eventually won out. As God says, grass withers and flowers fade. Those beautiful rose petals eventually fell off as the weather turned colder. We haven’t been posting any pictures or recording any sermons from the flower beds lately.

God contrasts the fleeting beauty of earth with the enduring nature of His eternal Word. God’s Word is as true in the dead of winter as it is in the bloom of spring. As Isaiah says, the word of our God stands forever.

And this is meant to bring us comfort.

Like the people of Isaiah’s day, we can feel a bit like exiles today. We find ourselves exiled in a world we don’t often recognize, a word some have called a “post-truth” world. That’s just a fancy way of saying that these days, many people don’t know who to trust anymore. Often times, we just don’t know who to believe. You can pretty much curate your own version of the truth these days through cable news and social media. Every news story can be spun to say whatever someone wants to say. Just check out the headlines on FOX and then go do the same on CNN. It will seem like they’re describing two completely different worlds, not the same country. What one network reports, the other completely (and conveniently) ignores. By now, most of us are really good at seeing through the spin, but it leaves us wondering who we can really trust these days. I think that’s a natural consequence when journalism takes a back seat to entertainment.

But right here in Isaiah, we find comfort — because God assures us that His Word is trustworthy and eternal. His Word is dependable, solid and sure. As we sometimes sing, “all other ground is sinking sand.” But the Word of God endures.

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A Great Way to Start

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Jason

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Baseball is Back!

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Jason
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A New Day: The Gift, Part 4

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Jason

Isaiah gives us four names that tell us even more about this gift:

Wonderful Counselor

One of my favorite scholars on Isaiah says, “Wonderful counselor is either a supernatural counselor or one who gives supernatural counsel.” I don’t see why it couldn’t be both. Jesus is the supernatural counselor who offers supernatural counsel.

Jesus is the most brilliant person who ever lived. When he was the age of a middle-schooler, the temple leaders were amazed at His understanding. But it’s not just that He was intelligent. Luke 2:52 says that Jesus grew in the area of wisdom, learning how to apply knowledge. This wisdom is the wellspring of His supernatural counsel.

His wisdom isn’t earthly wisdom, but wisdom that comes from above. So again, we’re talking about this theme of seeing with spiritual eyes, hearing with spiritual ears. Isaiah talks about God’s wisdom in Isaiah 55:

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:6-9

God gives supernatural counsel because His thoughts are not our thoughts; His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And take note: this statement is made in the context of forgiveness. When I think (in my earthly wisdom) that God has no use for somebody like me — “He could never forgive what I’ve done,” — God says, “Try me. My wisdom goes higher than yours, so return to me so I can have compassion on you and pardon you abundantly.”

This is the wonderful counsel of the Wonderful Counselor! It is an act of grace that God has given us His Word to guide us toward forgiveness.

Mighty God

The future King will also be called “Mighty God.” Scholars note the military tone of this title. This is a way of referring to God as a warrior God. So the ideal King is not just some counselor of philosopher. He rolls up His sleeves and fights for His people. He’s not passive; rather, He is engaged in defending, protecting, advocating for His people. He is able to conquer any foe, any adversary. He takes initiative on behalf of His people. This is the image of Jesus you see in Revelation 19, Jesus riding the white horse coming to defeat evil once and for all.

And this is further proof that we’re dealing with a unique individual — not merely a human king, but one who would be God in the flesh. He is “Mighty God.”

Everlasting Father

Isaiah balances the scales here yet again. Not only is the ideal King a warrior, but He is called “Everlasting Father.” The King cares for His subjects as a parent cares for a child. What a tremendous gift! He doesn’t rule over us harshly, as if we were mere servants. No, He cares for us like a good father cares for His children. And this care is eternal, everlasting, comfort without end. Again, we see that this could only be referring to God in the flesh.

It may be confusing to think of Jesus as “Everlasting Father” because we talk of God the Father as being separate, which is true. How is Jesus like a “father?” Well, Jesus Himself talks about faith as being born again. In that regard, for two thousand years people have been born again in the image of Jesus, the Everlasting Father of our faith. So this is just a metaphorical way of speaking of Jesus as the basis of our new existence.

Prince of Peace

The coming King brings peace, shalom in Hebrew. We’ve discussed this word many times in the past here on my blog. It’s the word for wholeness, well-being. The King restores what is lacking in us due to our sin and puts us back together again, making us whole.

Peace is the ideal of the New Jerusalem we talked about last week. Remember, her citizens will beat their swords into plowshares…and learn warfare no more.

Which of these images tugs at your heart today? Are you in search of one of these today?

  1. Wonderful Counselor: Do you need His wisdom, His instruction for the journey? Do you feel lost, in need of a trustworthy guide for the path ahead of you? Turn to Him for wisdom, for He freely imparts it. James 1:5, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
  2. Mighty God: Is there some battle you need to let the Lord fight on your behalf? Some adversary that you cannot defeat on your own? Know that He is mighty to save and there is no foe He cannot overcome on your behalf. Psalm 24:8, Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
  3. Everlasting Father: Maybe you’ve been betrayed so many times you don’t know who to trust. Maybe your earthly family has let you down. Maybe it was a spouse or a dear friend. But know that God is everlasting and true. He is your Father in heaven and He will never let you down. Psalm 27:10, For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
  4. Prince of Peace: Maybe everything is chaotic in your life and it feels like things are spinning out of control. But our King brings shalom. He promises to take away our sin and make us whole again. Ephesians 2:14, For he himself is our peace…

Jesus is the gift of God to us — to you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

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A New Day: The Gift, Part 3

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Jason

Isaiah sees that God is giving us the most precious gift of all. He is becoming one of us so that we can become one with Him.

He says, to us a son is given and he goes on to describe the gift of the ideal King. One commentator calls this a royal birth announcement, which is true. And in some sense, this prophecy may be partially connected to the later reign of King Hezekiah or King Joshiah; we can certainly see some parallels to these kings. But the titles ascribed to this future king go far beyond either of these two. No, this future King brings eternal peace — and only an eternal King can bring eternal peace.

Isaiah goes on to say of this eternal King that the government shall be upon His shoulder. What does that mean?

Well, this is yet another gift. It’s the gift of not being in charge. It means that you and I don’t have the burden of ultimate leadership, the burden of decision; that belongs to the King. We have a tendency to elevate ourselves, to think that everything depends upon us and revolves around us. But that’s simply not true. We don’t have to carry the weight of the world upon our shoulders because that’s not a load we could have ever carried in the first place.

There is a liberating sense of peace that comes from trusting in God’s wisdom and God’s commands. You just take what He says and you follow it. I know that sounds simplistic, and I suppose you could say more about that, but this is still truth. It’s the craziest thing, but obedience actually sets you free. I know some like to balk at that, especially those of us who like to be in control all the time, but it’s the Gospel truth. There is some real grace in recognizing that you don’t have the burden of leadership and the burden of decision.

There is only one Messiah…and it’s not me and it’s not you. The lead has already been cast; Jesus has already been given that role. His job is to be Jesus. My job is to simply follow His lead. Because true governance is upon His shoulder.

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A New Day: The Gift, Part 2

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Jason

The Gospel writer tells us that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus. In Matthew 4, Matthew quotes this verse when Jesus begins His ministry, specifically when He begins preaching His message of repentance. Jesus is indeed the great light, the light of the world! Matthew helps us understand the prophecy of Isaiah 9, especially what the prophet says in verses 6-7:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end…

Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah knows that this is a difficult time for the people. Anxiety is high; people are worried about their lives, worried about their future. But Isaiah never tells them to panic. Yes, the enemy is marching to Jerusalem, but Isaiah seems to think this is the perfect time to reflect on what God is doing rather than what the enemy is doing. Once again, we’re talking about seeing with those spiritual eyes.

In one sense, it’s really important to be aware of your enemy. There are times when it is appropriate to think about what the enemy is doing, how the enemy is going to attack, etc. But Isaiah calls us to think about something even more important — he calls us to look at what God is doing in our lives rather than what the enemy is doing. We find comfort when we look to what God is doing — which is why there’s so much about this in the Scriptures. The Bible contains stories and examples and parables and promises that tell us what God is doing in the world! And that is far more important than what the enemy is doing! This is such an incredible gift that God has given to us!

Just take a moment to think about the promises in the Scriptures. God intends for us to think about those promises repeatedly throughout the week, not just during a worship assembly. God intended for the citizens of Jerusalem to call to mind His promises right there in the midst of their fears, with the enemy breathing down their necks. This is the essence of faith! And He intends for us to do the same thing because those promises are a true gift for us to rely upon in the darkness of our fears. That is how we can see the light in the midst of all the darkness: by remembering the promise of God.

A few weeks back, we talked about the promise God makes when He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you. We said God promises to deliver those who put their trust in Him. Over the last few weeks, I’m sure you’ve found yourself in situations where you were tempted to give in to fear. Or maybe you were tempted to give in to despair or disillusionment. These are the spiritual battles we face every day. But being mindful of God’s promise can make such a difference in those moments. When we remember that God promises to never leave us, never forsake us, we find strength in our moment of weakness. So you can see how these promises are such a gift from God!

For many of us, this probably isn’t new information. Many of us have heard this promise before, that God will never leave us nor forsake us. We just need mechanisms that help call these promises to mind in the everyday moments of our lives.

  • If you’re a visual person, that might mean writing one of these promises on a note and putting it somewhere you can see it every day — your bathroom mirror, your desk at work, etc.
  • Maybe you need to create a voice memo on your phone — you can record yourself reading these promises and then play it back until it’s written on your heart.
  • Maybe you need to incorporate one of God’s promises into your prayer life until you have it committed fully to memory.

Whatever you decide, I hope you’ll remember this point: Don’t focus so much on what the enemy is doing that you lose sight of what our God is doing. Our enemy is certainly active. But our God is stronger.

Posted in Disappointment, Faith, God, Isaiah, Scripture, Theology | Leave a comment

A New Day: The Gift, Part 1

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Jason

When Owen and Caroline Williams moved into their home in 2015, they quickly befriended their next door neighbor, an elderly widower named Ken Watson. When their daughter, Cadi, came along the next year, Ken doted on her as if she were his own granddaughter.

Ken passed away in October of 2018 when little Cadi was only two years old. A few days after his death, Ken’s daughter stopped by the Williams home with a large bag filled with Christmas presents for Cadi. As Ken’s daughter was going through his things, she found a stockpile of Christmas presents Ken had already bought and wrapped for Cadi. In anticipation of his impending death, Ken went ahead and bought enough presents for Cadi to have one gift from him every year until she became a teenager.

Prior to his passing, this 87-year-old widower wanted to make sure that little Cadi would have these yearly reminders that she is loved. Like all gifts, Ken Watson’s presents to little Cadi are expressions of pure grace — not something she has earned or deserved, but something given out of love.

There is a reason stories like this resonate so deeply in our hearts. They confirm what we know to be true at the soul level: we stand in need of grace. And the Scriptures tell us that God is a giver like this. James says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights (James 1:17). The Heavenly Father lavishes His children with gifts that are good and perfect and eternal.

And in Isaiah 9, we learn about the greatest gift God has ever given the world.

Isaiah lives through some very trying days in the land of Judah. At the time that we read about in Isaiah 9, Assyria is the dominant superpower in the ancient world and the Assyrian army has begun to invade the land of Judah. As you can imagine, the people of Jerusalem are gripped by fear. Every day they hear of another city falling as this enemy army makes its way to Jerusalem.

And so Isaiah comes to the people with this word from God:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shone.

Isaiah 9:2

The present situation in Judah is described as darkness. The people probably thought, “Yeah, that sounds about right. The most fearsome army in the world is marching to our doorstep.” But Isaiah looks past all of this darkness to see a great light on the horizon. He calls the people to see not just with physical eyes but with spiritual eyes.

With physical eyes, all you’ll see is the darkness; but with spiritual eyes, there is always a light.

And Isaiah uses a technique here that scholars refer to as the prophetic perfect. You see this in several places in biblical prophecy. This is when the prophet describes future events in the past tense as if they’ve already happened. So he says, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light…on them a light has shone. Those are past tense verbs, even though he’s describing something that hasn’t happened yet in his day.

It’s as if Isaiah is so confident that these events are going to happen that he describes them as if they’ve already happened.

This is one of God’s great gifts to us — the gift of hope.

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A New Day: New Jerusalem, Part 3

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Jason

In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloudy by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 4:2-6

In that day, Isaiah says, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. Again, we’re back to this coming day when Jerusalem shall be made new. The branch of the Lord is a reference to the Messiah — so now we see the picture even more clearly. The Messiah is the one who will bring this New Jerusalem. And Isaiah says that the Lord will create over Mount Zion and her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. God will be with His people in the form of a cloud by day and fire by night.

This is Exodus language, the same kind of image that led God’s people out of Egyptian bondage. And this gives us even greater clarity. The New Jerusalem will be a New Mount Sinai for those who have been set free from their sin in the New Exodus. The Messiah is the One who makes her citizens holy by freeing them from the bondage of sin. Through His blood our filth is washed away and the point is made clear yet again: even human sinfulness cannot thwart the eternal plan of God.

I think God intends for this image of New Jerusalem to give us hope. We can easily be disillusioned, especially in trying times such as these. But this vision restores our hope. It reminds us that God has an eternal plan He’s working toward. As we’ve said for weeks now, the Lord has a day — a new day that is coming soon. For those who put their trust in Him, it will be the beginning of a glorious eternity with Him.

For those of us who have put our trust in Him, this is a reminder that until that day comes, we should live as citizens of New Jerusalem in the here and now. One way we do this is to remember that the word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem. Citizens of the New Jerusalem proclaim the word of God. In a later vision of New Jerusalem, Isaiah says:

On your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.

Isaiah 62:6-7

The nations continue to stream to the New Mount Sinai because the citizens of New Jerusalem are never silent. They are always proclaiming the glorious Good News of God’s promises and they are always praying for God to establish His New Jerusalem. God calls us to be His watchmen. We should always be seeking to share the Word of God with others and we should be ceaseless in our prayers.

One way we can do this is by committing to a common time of prayer. I’ve challenged our church family to a daily time of common prayer. Our local area code is 256 here in north Alabama. As a church family, we’ve committed to a quick minute of prayer every afternoon at 2:56pm — praying for those in our area who don’t yet know Christ. We’re praying that these individuals would come to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, the one who takes away our sin and promises eternal life. And we’re praying that God would open our eyes to the opportunities He puts in front of us everyday to proclaim the glory of His Word to those around us. I think that’s what it means to be a watchman of the New Jerusalem. And I would invite you to join me in this prayer. I can’t wait to meet the people who will come to know Christ because of the boldness of your prayers.

If you’re reading this and you’ve not yet put your trust in Jesus, I hope this vision of New Jerusalem will stir something in your soul. God wants to create a new “you.” Jesus, the Messiah, promises to free you from your sin and grants you citizenship in the New Jerusalem of God. I hope you will receive this promise in baptism and place your trust in Him. If you’d like to talk with someone about that, you can reach us at prayer@mayfair.org and we’ll set up a time to talk.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord who makes all things new, he who has ears, let him hear.

Posted in Eschatology, Faith, Hope, Isaiah, Love First, Love Others, Repentance, Scripture, Theology | Leave a comment

A New Day: New Jerusalem, Part 2

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Jason

In a dizzying move reminiscent of a flashback scene from LOST, Isaiah snaps out of this glorious vision to see the grim reality of the conditions in earthly Jerusalem. And this section runs through the rest of chapter two and the entirety of chapter three. Here are just a few of the things Isaiah says about earthly Jerusalem:

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands; to what their own fingers have made.

Isaiah 2:6-8

There’s a popular show on Netflix called Stranger Things. The show presents this idea of a world beneath the world we can see — on the show, it’s a world they call “the upside down.” It’s a replica of the “real world” with one important difference: it’s this kind of spiritual realm where these monsters move about. It’s similar to the world that Frodo experiences in The Lord of the Rings when he puts on The One Ring.

Well, Isaiah was doing this sort of thing thousands of years before Tolkien and Stranger Things — only instead of seeing a world of evil beings, Isaiah sees a world made new by God. So this vision of New Jerusalem is God’s ideal — what God is working toward. But earthly Jerusalem is “the upside down” — the place where things are not as they should be, the place where evil continues to operate. And the grandeur of the vision of the New Jerusalem fades pretty quickly when Isaiah looks at earthly Jerusalem.

As it says in this passage, God’s people have become full of worldliness. They’re really no different than, say, the Philistines, when it comes to reliance upon things from the east and fortune-tellers. These kinds of foreign spiritual practices and superstitions were forbidden in the Law of Moses. Apparently the citizens of Jerusalem want to be just like their worldly neighbors.

Earthly Jerusalem is also focused upon greed and military might. They have laid up copious amounts of silver and gold; Isaiah says there is no end to their treasures. But the land is also full of chariots and horses — which are symbols of military strength. From what we read here, it seems that the citizens of Jerusalem have put more trust in their bank accounts and their defense budget than in the Lord God Himself. That’s the meaning of the final line: Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands.

I can’t help but notice some striking parallels to modern-day America as I read Isaiah’s assessment of ancient Jerusalem. I guess some things never change. We’re equally susceptible to spiritual superstition. For instance, Pew Research Center estimates that the percentage of Americans who believe in astrology is around 30%. We routinely hear people say things like, “The universe is telling me to do this,” — as if the universe is the all-powerful force controlling everything in our lives.

I saw this article this week from some supposed self-help guru / life coach. The title of the article was, “Don’t Ignore Signs From the Universe.” And the guy went on to say that happiness is the ultimate “GPS system” in your life. He says that when you do something that makes you happy, it’s a sign from the universe that you’re on the right track and doing what you are meant to be doing. He says, “If you’re not happy with your job, or where you are living, or any other aspect of your life, that may be the universe telling you that it’s time to make a change.” (Emphasis mine.)

If you’re not happy with you job, that’s the universe telling you it’s time to make a change.

Or if you’re not happy with your spouse — the one you promised to stand beside in sickness and in health, till death do us part — then the universe might be telling you it’s time to trade her in for a newer model.

No wonder garbage like this is so popular these days. Don’t you see how that’s just a cover for our own selfish desires? “Just do whatever makes you happy….because the all-benevolent universe exists solely for your happiness.” Never mind the fact that pursuing your own selfish “happiness” is bound to hurt a lot of other people. It’s that “any other aspect of your life” that’s the most dangerous part of the article. But this is the popular spirituality for many in our world today.

Again, this is simply a cover for selfishness and sinful indulgence. I could take you to a lot of families that have been hurt by this kind of pseudo-spiritual bullcrap. They’re suffering the consequences of a Mom or a Dad who decided that running off with someone else would make them happy. That’s what “the universe” told them to do, apparently.

The idol of happiness always has been and always will be a threat to our well-being.

That’s not the only kind of parallel we find here. Like ancient Jerusalem, we can also be distracted by wealth and military might. These can function as idols in our day as well. We can be tempted to trust in our annuities and our investments and our bombs and our tanks for more security than they can really provide. Like ancient Israel, we live in a land filled with idols. That is what Isaiah sees when he looks at ancient Jerusalem and we should guard against the same thing if we’re going to truly heed Isaiah 2 as the Word of God.

God goes on to pronounce this word of judgment against earthly Jerusalem:

For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.

Isaiah 3:8

Earthly Jerusalem’s idolatry is a defiance of God Himself, just as our idolatry is a defiance of God. The mighty city has stumbled with words and deeds that stand against the Lord. Isaiah goes on to say that the citizens of Jerusalem have been crushing the poor. Therefore, at the end of chapter three, God promises to strip away the fine clothing and jewelry and perfume that matters so much to Jerusalem’s wealthy citizens. Because of this, God calls earthly Jerusalem a heap of ruins (3:6).

Again, I can’t help but notice some more parallels to our culture — parallels that, frankly, make us fairly uncomfortable. But God’s Word doesn’t always say the things we necessarily want to hear. In fact, that might be one of the surest signs that a word is from God — the fact that it’s something we don’t really want to hear.

But in Isaiah’s prophecies, judgment is always followed by hope. And this vision is no different.

Posted in Culture, Faith, Hard Sayings, Isaiah, Scripture, Social Issues, Theology | Leave a comment